VT GAMER Lab and Tour FRI 1/27

CHCI faculty and students and friends are invited to a tour of the VT GAMER Lab at its new downtown location this Friday 1/27 (11 am -12 noon) in the Media Building, Room 105.

The VT Gaming and Media Effects (GAMER) Lab, directed by School of Communication professor Jimmy Ivory, is part of the Digital Media Research Facility in the School of Communication at Virginia Tech. The Facility supports research on the social impact of video games, immersive virtual environments, simulations, and related media technologies. The GAMER Lab has been housed in Shanks Hall (Room 033) sponsored by the School of Communication, but is taking over new digs in the recently-renovated Media Building (Room 105) at 101 Draper Road NW. The new facility space is sponsored by VT’s Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology.

The GAMER Lab is dedicated to social and behavioral research on digital games, simulations, virtual environments, and related media and communication technologies. Research in the laboratory has examined a range of topics related to digital games, such as effects of controller interfaces, three-dimensional displays, and other technological dimensions, gendered behavior in online games, demographic representation in games, risk of addiction to games, risk factors for college students using games, and dynamics of public perceptions of digital games’ negative effects. Aside from digital games, the laboratory remains involved in research on other technologies, such as the effects of screen time, effectiveness of immersive simulations in increasing understanding of mental health, responses to color in online advertising, and psychological dimensions of search engines. The lab also maintains an active research agenda on meta-scientific research, such as applications of social and behavioral research to health interventions, validity of research on the psychological of virtual reality, methodological reform in communication research, and methodological issues in media violence research and its application to policy.

The GAMER Lab welcomes faculty and student collaborators. Students typically work in the laboratory for course credit or as part of their existing coursework. In addition, GAMER Lab staff are involved in ongoing development of the new Virginia Tech curriculum related to Digital Games and Interactive Entertainment.

Renovation of the new GAMER Lab space is in progress, as is movement of equipment and materials to the space. Please join the tour this Friday 1/27 (11 am -12 noon) to see the lab, and contact lab director Jimmy Ivory to get involved.